Conventional attempts to heat water to provide steam require substantial heat and energy requirements, especially for the production of superheated steam. For example, superheated steam boilers typically further heat steam that has already been vaporized from water. High temperature steam is essential for use in modern power generation and other steam driven applications. The process of heating steam in superheat boilers is an energy intensive thermodynamic process heavily dependent on fossil fuel. Given the background scenario of diminishing energy supplies and environmental air quality considerations, more energy efficient steam generation processes are desired.
In accordance with the present disclosure, steam, including superheated steam, may be produced in a process by which liquid water is substantially instantaneously converted to a gas state using apparatus configured to transform multiple, sequential injections of water into gas. It has been discovered that steam and superheated steam can be generated using the apparatus, with much lower heat and energy requirements as compared to conventional methods and apparatus.